The band’s Stephen Perry offers a track-by-track breakdown of the brand-new ep—which the Brooklyn trio wrote and recorded in just one week
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I’m trying to think of something—anything—of significance I’ve accomplished over the course of one week.
There was that time I… nah. Or wait! Oh, nope, no, def not. Yeahhhh… I’ve got nothin’.
But so is NOT the case for The Planes, who back in September—as guests on Berlin-based podcast // music pressure-cooker The Weekly—whipped up an entire EP in just seven days.
That’s no typo. In a true test of near-instant artistry—in one day less than it takes to celebrate Hanukkah and approx two weeks less than it takes me to, like, put away my laundry—the Brooklyn trio wrote and recorded an album. And while the business maxim goes that of three key attributes—good, fast, cheap—you can only have two (and we’re all about business here at Bands do BK!), I’m happy to report that this doesn’t hold true for The Planes’ record.
It was fast, it is cheap and—here’s the best news: It’s really, really good.
The Oracle of Marcy is out now. And I’m extremely stoked to premiere it right here!
Big part band, significant portion cat fan club (CHECK THIS MERCH), The Planes pride themselves on having fun, and that comes through in the excellent new EP, which is now available on Bandcamp, complete with a bonus cover of Blondie’s “Dreaming.” (No word on how long it took Debbie Harry to write that one, buttttt I guess we’ll let her slide.)
Ahead of the release, Stephen Perry told me a bit about the process of recording The Oracle of Marcy and the decision to unleash it on the world:
“The first two days, I wrote basic guitar tracks and vocal melodies, then on the third day, Matt recorded bass lines in his apartment. On the fourth day, Carlo wrote the drum part and I continued to work on lyrics/vocals. On the fifth th day we recorded the drums, and on the sixth and seventh days, I mixed it. And that’s how it came together. We were really happy with the results so we had it professionally mastered, and here we are!”
AND HERE WE ARE! Stephen also offered a track-by-track breakdown of the record’s four originals, featuring inspiration for the songs, some tuning notes and an approach that, with just 168 hours to work with (that’s only 10,080 minutes! just 1/52nd of a year!), the band had no choice but to implement: Just go with it.
ORACLE OF MaRCY—TRACK BY TRACK
“The Oracle”
“The title-ish track was inspired by one of my wife’s tattoos, a Heraclitus quote about the Oracle of Delphi (Neither speaks, nor conceals, but gives a sign). This is the first time I really experimented with alternate tuning guitars. Both guitars are tuned (low to high) D D D D D# D#.”
“The Scandal”
“This silly riff fell right into my hands one morning (the 2nd day of writing this EP), and because we were short on time, I just went with it. The slide guitar was played with a bottle of hand sanitizer, which felt very appropriate given the times.”
“The Gallows”
“I felt like writing something simple and aggressive (at least for The Planes), and this little punk song popped into my head and the rest is history. It’s loosely about being sentenced to hang in some dystopian future because I can’t keep my mouth shut.”
“The Earthquake”
“I’m not sure where the inspiration for this came from. I wanted to write something on the mandolin, so I sat down and jammed on it until this song came together. I don’t really know if it’s about anything specific, but I was happy with the imagery. I guess it’s kinda half about a bombing, half about anxiety, and half about something else I can’t put my finger on.”
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Join me in ringing in the weekend with The Oracle of Marcy on repeat, and perhaps take a moment to consider what YOU can accomplish within the next week. I don’t want to get *too* ambitious, but I miiiight make big moves and, like, put on pants at some point.
Ya know… maybe.
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Follow The Planes at @theplanesnyc, grab their music on Bandcamp and add them to your Spotify playlists now!
Feature image provided by the band.
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